Kathmandu – Nepal has officially decided to accept six Bell helicopters offered by the United States under a Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grant, ending months of discussions over the proposed military assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision comes despite the Nepali Army’s preference for heavy-lift helicopters which officials believe are better suited for transporting construction materials, relief supplies and equipment to remote parts of the country during disasters and infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The six helicopters will be provided under an FMF grant worth around $100 million. They are in addition to two Bell helicopters that the United States had already committed to Nepal earlier. With the latest decision, Washington’s total commitment now stands at eight Bell helicopters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposal had been under discussion between officials of the two countries and the Nepali Army. The process had slowed as the Army had not formally responded while assessing the operational costs of the helicopters including aviation fuel, training and maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Military sources had earlier told Kathmandupati that the US Embassy in Kathmandu had been urging Nepali authorities to take a decision on the proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest approval clears the way for the assistance package to move forward, further expanding defence cooperation between Nepal and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US has already been supplying military equipment to Nepal. Last September, it handed over two M-28 Skytruck aircraft to the Nepali Army saying the aircraft would strengthen Nepal’s capabilities in disaster response, humanitarian assistance, security and rescue operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kathmandu – Nepal has officially decided to accept six Bell helicopters offered by the United States under a Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grant, ending months of discussions over the proposed military assistance. The decision comes despite the Nepali Army’s preference for heavy-lift helicopters which officials believe are better suited for transporting construction materials, relief supplies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n